Baseball purists were calling foul last week when MLB decided to shuffle its postseason schedule and push the start of the playoffs ahead one day. What does one day matter? Well, that one day means that for the first time ever, Game 7 of the World Series (if necessary) will be scheduled to be played on November 1.

Only once has the World Series stretched into November. That happened in 2001 after the 9/11 attack pushed the season back a week. Game 5, Game 6 and Game 7 of that series were all played in November when Arizona topped New York in seven games.

Baseball’s reasoning behind the schedule changes is to give the players a couple more rest days, and to be ready in case Mother Nature throws them a curveball like she did in April. The weather concern is understandable; if you’re a Seattle Mariners fan then you know how weather can mess up the schedule.

However, the “giving the players another rest day” is a pile of thick-slice baloney. If the major leaguers can play six to seven games a week for six months, I think they can keep up the pace for another couple of weeks. The strain of the final months of the season is supposed to separate the greats from the average players, isn’t it? If Hank Aaron was given a few more rest days maybe he would have clubbed 800 homers instead of 755.

The only way this new schedule will even matter is if the World Series goes seven games. That hasn’t happened since 2002 when the Angels squeaked past the Giants in seven games. Prior to that the World Series went to seven games only three times in 10 years.

The baseball purists can huff and haw all they like, but nobody will even care unless and until we get to November 1 and they’re still playing baseball.

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